After She Went Away was the second short film I made in College. I was the director, cinematographer, gaffer, and editor. I also co-produced the short with the writer and actress of Rudy, Rachel Herriges. The film was accepted into the Montecito Student Film Festival.
This was my first film where I really pushed myself as a cinematographer. Armed with my trusty Sony A7Rii, I learned how to use a gimbal and rely almost entirely on my so-so skills of manual focus. I played around with lighting and the movement more than I ever had. It also tested my limits as an editor due to a variety of complexities, but the biggest difficulty was having to capture and insert ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement [p.s. definitely not automatic]) for a large chunk of the spoken lines.
Having a solid team and a super supportive co-producer made this short a hoot to shoot. (Knowing what I know now, Rachel should have gotten an assistant director credit. She let me play with my camera, but also kept me on schedule). Having it fully scored by Luke Spicer really polished the piece as well.
After She Went Away is a short that I am really quite proud of for my second film.
